Here is my first Podcast teaching about Reader's Theatre and fluently reading!


Hello 2nd graders, this is your teacher, Mrs. McClure recording my very first podcast from school in Maple City, MI, in the middle of summer, July 17th,2013! Have you ever wanted to speak on the radio, or have your family listen to you read while you are at school and they are working or at home? Do you have a favorite relative faaaar away that would like to hear you read? If you said yes to any of those questions, this is your lucky day!
You are going to get a chance to create a podcast, which is what you are listening to now! It will be our classroom radio show! You can make a podcast for just about anything, but we are going podcast groups reading readers theatre. After we have created our podcasts, we will post the podcasts to our Kidblogs for your family and friends to listen to and comment on!
I know you are familiar with readers theatre because last year you watched my second graders read “Stone Soup”, and by this time, we would have read at least one readers theatre in class, because I LOVE teaching readers theatre and listening to all my students read their parts!
Now, the most important part about readers theatre is you are READING not acting! You have to use your voice to make your part exciting! I am going to put you in reader theatres groups and you will practice your part all week. Your group will have a chance to practice together as well before you podcast.
So why are we practicing reading our parts all week? There are lots of important reading teachers and specialists that have studied what makes children good readers. Did you know that part of becoming a great reader is to re-read stories over and over again? We talk a lot about being a fluent reader, that means you can read with little mistakes, quickly and with expression. Also, when you are reading fluently, it helps you better understand what you are reading! When you re-read stories over and over again, it helps with your reading fluency! Listen to me read these two sentences. The first time I won’t read with fluency and the second time I will.
The two little girls were riding their bikes and racing each other down the hill.
Did you notice that I didn’t read that fluently? I am going to practice reading this sentence a few times and then I will read it out loud again with good voice and fluency. Here I go! Because
The two little girls were riding their bikes and racing each other down the hill.
Could you tell the difference in how I read the second sentence with good voice, reading nice and smooth all the way through?
Now, sit back grab a little red hen book from the center bin because I am going to read you an example Reader’s Theatre story, this will help you hear what our classrom podcasts will sound like. I would like you to be detectives and pay special attention to the different characters voices and their expressions.

A readers theatre story Called The Little Red Hen Written by Margot Zamach, performed by Mrs. McClure

Script:
Narrator: Once upon a time the little red hen lived with her chicks in a small cottage. She worked hard to keep her family well fed. In the evenings, she sang while she worked.
Little Red Hen: (hum a little tune)
Narrator: One day when the little red hen was out walking with her friends, the goose, the cat, and the pig, she found a few grains of wheat.
Little Red Hen: Who will plant this wheat?
Goose: Not I.
Cat: Not I.
Pig: Not I.
Little Red Hen: Then I’ll do it myself.
Narrator: And she did. One morning the little red hen saw that the green wheat had sprouted.
Little Red Hen: Oh, come and see the green wheat growing!
Chicks: Cheep, cheep, cheep
Narrator: All summer the wheat grew taller and taller. It turned from green to gold, and at last it was time for the wheat to be harvested.
Little Red Hen: Who will harvest this wheat?
Goose: Not I.
Cat: Not I.
Pig: Not I.
Little Red Hen: Then I’ll do it myself.
Narrator: And she did. At last the wheat was all cut down and it was time for it to be threshed.
Little Red Hen: Who will thresh this wheat?
Goose: Not I.
Cat: Not I.
Pig: Not I.
Little Red Hen: Then I’ll do it myself.
Narrator: And she did. At last the wheat was threshed, and the little red hen poured the golden grains into a large sack, ready to take to the mill to be ground in to flour.
Little Red Hen: Who will take this wheat to the mill to be ground into flour.
Goose: Not I.
Cat: Not I.
Pig: Not I.
Little Red Hen: Then I’ll do it myself.
Narrator: And she did.
Little Red Hen: Who will bake this flour into a lovely loaf of bread?
Goose: Not I.

Cat: Not I.

Pig: Not I.

Little Red Hen: Then I’ll do it myself.

Narrator: And she did. At last the bread was baked and the little red hen called to her friends, the goose, the cat, and the pig.
Little Red Hen: Who will eat this lovely loaf of bread?
Goose: I will!
Cat: I will!
Pig: I will!
Little Red Hen: Oh, no, you won’t! I found the wheat and I planted it. I watched the wheat grow, and when it was time I harvested it and threshed it and took it to the mill to be ground into flour, and at last I’ve baked this lovely loaf of bread. Now, I’m going to eat it with my family.

Narrator: And she did!
Chicks: Cheep, cheep.

I hope you liked The Little Red Hen Podcast. Did you notice all of the different voices? I can’t wait to get started with you on practicing reading fluently and with great voice! Happy podcasting!
This podcast was created in Garage Band, the music tracks were provided by garage bang. The opening and closing track was the Cuban Timba Conga number 6, my research was gathered from readingrockets.org an article by Cara Bafile titled. Reader’s Theatre: Giving Students a Reason to Read Aloud. The back ground music for my readers theatre was also a track provided by Garage Band with the slide guitar and the track Front Pourch Dobro number 2. Hope you enjoyed it, until next time.